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Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award

April 14, 2020/in News, People, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award: Miki Stengaard Petersen has been named the Campey Turf Care Systems and Havdrup Student of the Year 2019. The award is presented by the Groundsman Association Denmark (GAD) and is given to the student that finishes the Danish Groundsmen’s school with the highest grade in the final exam. In […]

Greenkeeping during a pandemic

April 14, 2020/in Industry News, News, Press Release/by External Source

Greenkeeping during a pandemic: As clubs continue to be shut in the UK while the coronavirus pandemic holds its grip over the world, one of the biggest concerns looking ahead is the shape our courses will be in when normality returns. In the wake of the lockdown, the government confirmed greenkeepers could still attend work […]

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award

April 14, 2020/in News, People, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Greenkeeping during a pandemic

April 14, 2020/in Industry News, News, Press Release/by External Source

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Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award

April 14, 2020/in News, People, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award: Miki Stengaard Petersen has been named the Campey Turf Care Systems and Havdrup Student of the Year 2019.

The award is presented by the Groundsman Association Denmark (GAD) and is given to the student that finishes the Danish Groundsmen’s school with the highest grade in the final exam. In the event of two students getting the same grade, the decision is made based on the overall highest grade.

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award

Miki works for Skive IK, who are into their second season in the Danish First Division after topping the Second Division and winning promotion in 2018/19. The 26-year-old has worked for the Jutland based club since April 2016 and works alongside three others at the 10,000 capacity Skive Stadium.

As well as winning the title of Student of the Year, Miki was also given the opportunity to travel to Spain and spend a week working Paul Burgess and his staff at Real Madrid CF. Miki has since spent a week in Madrid, and the experience has been one that will stay with him for the rest of his career.

“I almost didn’t believe it at first,” Miki began. “I was so happy and super excited, I’ve never won anything before, so to win the award and be given the opportunity to work with Real Madrid was huge for me.

“It was simply amazing; it was the experience of a lifetime. Paul Burgess and his staff are all very talented, and I feel that I learnt a lot from them. I’m very thankful for the experience because I’ve seen how beautiful our line of work can be.”

GAD was founded in December 2011 and aims to bring those interested in maintaining football fields and similar areas together. In doing this, they hope to use education, professional networking and educational tours abroad to strengthen the professional environment for groundsmen.

This has already included a visit to England in 2019 organised by GAD and Campey Turf Care where thirty-eight groundsman from Denmark and Spain visited leading venues such as Arsenal’s London Colney training centre, Liverpool Football Club, Stoke City Football Club, Tottenham Hotspur’s Enfield Training Ground and the brand-new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where head of playing surfaces and estates, Darren Baldwin, gave up his time to give the group a tour of the stunning new facility and answer questions from the groundsmen.

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Greenkeeping during a pandemic

April 14, 2020/in Industry News, News, Press Release/by External Source

Greenkeeping during a pandemic: As clubs continue to be shut in the UK while the coronavirus pandemic holds its grip over the world, one of the biggest concerns looking ahead is the shape our courses will be in when normality returns.

In the wake of the lockdown, the government confirmed greenkeepers could still attend work for “essential maintenance purposes”.

BIGGA and the R&A then set out a comprehensive plan on what that should look like.

But what is being done in practice?

Nairn Dunbar, in the North of Scotland, will co-host the Amateur Championship next year. We caught up with course manager Richard Johnstone to ask him how his team were working during the outbreak and how the coronavirus lockdown and aftermath would affect the Highland course…

What is essential maintenance looking like at Nairn Dunbar?

The health, well-being and safety of our staff, members and visitors is priority so, for now, all staff are on three weeks furlough.

We are lucky there is very little growth until mid-April in the North of Scotland and are happy with course conditions after completing a lot of work during our winter maintenance programme.

I have been in constant contact with my Club Manager and Management Committee to plan the next steps needed to implement essential maintenance, starting mid-April.

How will staffing numbers continue to be affected?

We recently had our Deputy Course Manager retire after 27 years working on the course.

An internal promotion is being carried out, giving the opportunity to one of our highly skilled assistant greenkeepers who have been excelling in their role and are ready for a new challenge.

Due to new financial restraints caused by Covid-19 we will be unable to take on anyone new, meaning we will be running with five staff through 2020 to look after our 135-acre site.

How will the course react to the new regime and how much time would you need to reinstate it when the restrictions come to an end?

Having missed out on three weeks of work, tasks will be prioritised to ensure the main surfaces are in the best possible condition given the resources available.

It will be tough but our hard-working team will do our best to ensure members and guests can continue to enjoy a first class experience.

Our enthusiastic members will also be offered the opportunity to volunteer alongside our team on the course, which will really help us complete smaller tasks through 2020.

We will also be working closely with the STRI and R&A as we look at best practice ahead of hosting The Amateur Championship, alongside Nairn GC, in 2021.

What measures will you need to take to ensure everyone stays safe?

Prior to the lockdown we had already put measures in place to make sure staff and members were as safe as possible by implementing practises such as different shift patterns to avoid similar start/finish and break times, machinery and surfaces wiped before and after use.

We also have a lone working policy in place to ensure safe working practices are followed at all times.

Golfers were asked to follow guidelines, such as 2m distancing between players, not to touch pins and hole cups were turned upside down to avoid contact with the pin.

All bins, water fountains, ball washers were stopped from use and rakes and ball scoops were removed from the course totally.

A lot of these measures will almost certainly still be in use when the course opens again until we can return to some sort of “normality”.

Being such a close-knit community club during this tough period has been a big advantage and we hope we can work through this together coming out the other side even stronger.

We do encourage, if financially possible, members and guests continue to support us and invest in the future of our 121-year-old club.

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For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

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You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award

Greenkeeping during a pandemic

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award

Greenkeeping during a pandemic

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award

Miki Stengaard Petersen wins student award: Miki Stengaard Petersen has been named the Campey Turf Care Systems and Havdrup Student of the Year 2019.

Greenkeeping during a pandemic

Greenkeeping during a pandemic: As clubs continue to be shut in the UK while the coronavirus pandemic holds its grip over the world, one of the biggest concerns looking ahead is the shape our courses will be in when normality returns.

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